WordPress and Google work together to show me which Google searches lead people to my blog. I thought it would be fun to dig through some of the search terms that brought people here and explore some answers to their questions.
The whys are coming fast this week. Why the wars? Why the murdering of children? Why suicide? Today one of my readers asked another one. She googled, “Why did God allow my mom to get dementia?”
The short answer, sweet reader, is I don’t know. I don’t know why other people’s mothers are living with clarity of mind, with the ability to take care of themselves, while your mother is struggling. I don’t know why God doesn’t stretch a mighty hand out and touch her mind and make it well again.
It’s hard sometimes to live in the reality that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. (Isaiah 55:8-9) But, we can take comfort in knowing that the Bible doesn’t just say that His ways are different from ours–they are higher. This tells us that His ways are on another plane. They are on a level that only He, with His all-knowing, can really comprehend.
But, there’s another way to look at that as well. His ways are also more costly. His ways and thoughts cost Him so much more than they would have if He would’ve just decreed that sin doesn’t exist and that all people will now be perfect, no more decaying of minds and bodies, no more struggling with temptation. The ways that He chose to accomplish the salvation of His people are higher, so much pricier, so much more costly than they had to be, from our vantage point. He paid with the life of His son, with the anguish of separation from Him, with the heartache of watching His people fail miserably over and over.
There must be a good reason why He chose to do all of this. Some reason that is way beyond what we can know. But, there are plenty of things that we do know about God and His character.
We know that He hurts when we hurt. (Think of Jesus outside the tomb of His friend Lazarus, weeping. John 11:35)
We know that He sees every struggle that your mother endures. (Think of how He knows everything about us, even down to the number of hairs on each head. Luke 12:7)
We know that He takes care of her in large and small ways. (Think of how he feeds and clothes the birds of the air. How much more does He take care of His children? Matthew 6:26)
We know that He uses suffering to help us grow closer to Him. (Think of identifying with Christ through suffering. 1 Peter 4)
We know that His will is ultimately good, pleasing, and perfect. (Think of the way He can renew our minds when we start to doubt and fear. Romans 12:2)
I know that when you are in the midst of suffering, as you are now, it is difficult to see God’s will as good, pleasing, and perfect. But, we can trust that if we knew what He knows, we would understand that all suffering and all joy and all comfort and all heartache works together, in some mysterious and miraculous way, to honor and glorify the name of the God who saves.
His ways are high. The price He paid was high. So, in trusting our rescuer who reached into the pit to pull us to higher ground, we can say, “Not my will, Lord, but yours. Because I know it is better. Even when it breaks my heart.”
Jesus understands your anguish. Run to him with your tears. And, trust that while it all looks ugly on this side of eternity, one day we will get a glimpse of what His high ways have accomplished. And, that will be a beautiful day.
Very good, Melissa. Thank you.
Thank you, Cheryl!